Process for manufacturing elastic filling for tires.



No. 851,960. PATENTED APR. 30, 1907.

' F. PFLEUMER.

PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING ELASTIC FILLINGS FOR TIRES.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 27, 1906.

wizznflfels I Jkuen 2 2 7610728)" consists of gelatinor the like.

"UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRITZ PFLEUMER, or DRESDEN, GERMANY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 30, 1907.

Application filed January 27, 1906. Serial No. 298.129.

To (LZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known. that l, FRJTZ Priirniunn, a

subject of the Emperor of Austria, residing at Dresden, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes for Manufacturing Elastic Fillings for Tires, of which the following is a specification.

It'has already been proposed (for inst. by Nirdlinger in his U. S. Patent 753,206) to fill the interior of bicycle, automobile or the like tires with cells containing compressed air. For producing such: a filling medium, the emulsion, consisting of certain elastic substances, the melting point of which is be low that of rubber, is beaten into foam under pressure Within a receptacle by suitable means, so that there are produced in the mass bubbles or cells filled with air, whereupon the filling mass is forced under pressure into the tires.

, Suitable substances for making such an emulsion are for instance india rubber of varlous kinds, gelatinous substances, such asvegetable' or animal gelatin, animal jelly (glue), bone glue (gelatin), ismglass (hsh glue), chondrin, or the like. These may be employed either alone or mingled with each other, or with other substances, such as do not efiect the elasticity. When gelatin. is used, it must first be steeped in water, glycerin then added and finally the water driven ofi by boiling, for the purpose of preserving the mass. In carrying out such processes it has been found. that the filling material does not possess, in the tire, a degree of elasticity approaching suiliciently near'to that of compressed air alone, for the reason that under the proposed conditions the gelatin or the like could not be made of a sufficiently liquid consistency to form thin enough walls for the individual cells, with the result that only a relatively small percentage of air can be incorporated into the filling mass while a large part of the filling material consists of solid gelatin or the like.

.My invention has for its object to hit reduce agreater amount of air into the filling. so that only a relatively small part of the filling I obtain this result by beating the heated gelatinous mass within a closed receptacle into a foam under a pressure higher than that which the filling material shall have when about to be introduced into the tire. This excess pressure should be about four or five times that of the pressure within the the when ready for use,

or even more. The filling material. thus beaten up under this extra high pressure will then be loosened up, so to speak, by suddenly or grad ally reducing the pressure within the receptacle. This pressure reduction may he obtained by blowing oil pressure air or gas, with the result that by reason of the ensuing expansion the air bubbles or cells already containedin the mass will be greatly enlarged. To allow of sufficient expansion the receptacle must in the beginning of the operation be only partly filled with. the mixture. The filling material is then ready to be intro duced into the tire and by reason of the large amount ol" air contained in it, an elasticity approXinni-tely equal to that of conipresscd air alone will result.

In the accom ninying drawing I have illustratcd in vertical section a filling apparatus applied to a tire, by means of which my improved process may be carried out.

The filling mass is boiled by being placed in a receptacle 1, which dips into a tank of water :3, heated from below by gas or in any other suitable manner. The receptacle 2. is closed by a cover 3 shut down air-tight by means of gaskets, clamps and wing nuts, or the like. At the bottom of the receptacle is an outlet pipe 4, connected by the fittings 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 with the air tube 13. To fill the tire, the valve plug must first be removed from the tube valve 12 and the fittings S, 9, 10 screwed on with the aid of the coupling 11. The latter has below a right-handed thread to fit the valve casing, and above a left-handed thread, so that the connection is effected by simply turning the union 11. The union 9 is likewise provided with right and left handed threads, so that by merely turning it, connection is made with the flexible metallic hose 7.

Immediately the mass is ready for filling into the tire, the cover 3 is set upon the receptacle and closed down air-tight by means of the wing nuts. An air pump must then be connected to the out-let 6 of the threeway cock 5 and the air withdrawn from the tube 13. The mass is then converted into foam under increased pressure, which is done in the following manner z-lVhen the necessary pressure has been produced in the receptacle 1 (which pressure, as stated above, should be about four or five times as highas that of the filling material ready for use) by pumping in air through the orifice 16, a gyratory motion is imparted to the mass by .mingled with it.

- beating, and airis thereby introduced into it from above; or the air is pumped into the may expand throughout the entire receptainto foain,,if desired, during the above processe-by the addition of some substance verted into foam by means of this appara cle 1, the, excess pressure which is above the foam and which prevents its expansion, must be let out throu h the outlet 15. 17 is a glass tube throng which the rising foam can be observed. 19 is a gage for observing the pressure in thereceptacle 1 during the process. The composition may also be converted evolving gas, such as effervescent pow'der, baking powder, and the like. The foam 1n the receptacle can be sampled by connecting the outlet 6 of the three-way cock 5 with they receptacle 1 and screwing a measuring glass or the like to the threaded connection at 9.

The mass is beaten up or mixed with airby means of the stirring apparatus 20, operated bya shaft 21, which passesthrough an air-tight stulling box 22 in the cover 3 and 1S driven by a pulley 24 and bevel gears 23. The beating device 20 is connected direct with the air-tight cover 3 and can be lifted out with it. hen the mass has been contus, and the excess pressure has been reduced, as above described a force pump is connected at 16, the receptacle 1 brought into connection with the tube 13 by means of the threeway cock 5, air pumped into the receptacle and the foam thus forced through the fittings 511 in a still hot, liquidcondition into the tube After filling the tube, the cook 10 is closed and the hose 7 disconnected by unscrewing the'union 9. After removal of the mass remaining in the hose 7, a new tire can be filled, After the mass-in the tube 13 has cooled, the union 11 is disconnected, and the -valve 12 closed a ain in the Well known e D I manufacturing tires, consisting in converting a gelatinous mass into a foam under a pressure higher'than that required in the tire, augmenting the foaming operation by re-- 'ducing the pressure from that of thefoaniing tank to that of the tire, for the purpose of thereby allowing the mass to expand, and then forcing the expanded mass into the tire, substantially as set forth.

' in testimony whereof I affix my signature inpresen'ce of two Witnesses.

RITZ PFLEUMER.

Witnesses:

PAUL ARRAs,

PAUL E. SCHILLING. 

